Our existence and presence will one day be gone, a mist in the flow of life. While our bodies will be gone our footprints will remain imprinted into every fabric of life that we have touched. Vibrating energy from the waves of our soul.

Herein lies the question. What footprints do you want to leave from your life?

It is easy to remove this question from our lives. We can follow life’s flow of tasks and to do items. We can build our nest of things, all removed from this question until it is too late. At some point in our lives this question will surface. It might be the last nanosecond of a last breath, or it might be an eight year old determined to make a difference on this planet. Subconsciously this question lingers inside, a festering wound that can only be saved through a life of purpose-dedicated footprints along a path of service. Consciously this question will burn our thoughts like a birth unfulfilled. The thoughts of what if will linger as we transition to another existence.

Our footprints are our existence. Every step, in every moment is the life we create, the life we breathe into this world. We choose the footprints we wish to leave. These could be faint footprints that easily dissipate impressed by a passionless life. These footprints could also be nondescript, formless blobs no different from any other steps onto the landscape. These footprints are easily forgotten and blend into the landscape. However, these footprints could also be clear, distinct steps filled with intention and purpose, each with clarity and memorable lines that not only make a difference for those that see them but also are never forgotten.

Our lives are the choice we take in every step. We are constantly creating. Creation does not happen in the past, nor does it exist in the future. It exists NOW. Every moment, every step, we are leaving remnants of our existence, our purpose. This is the journey. It is filled with purpose and love. This path is our true being coming home. This is the fire burning inside of us.

Create your life. Find your purpose. Make a difference in giving unconditionally, and step with intention and passion in this world. These are the footprints we are to leave.

Imagine a world built on the footprints and paths of individuals connecting to their true selves filled with compassion, love and intention. These are the paths that will bring us out of the darkness. These are the paths that will connect all living beings. Create this world.

Call to Action:

Get present to your life and what you stand for on this planet. Get present to what you are committed to in this lifetime. What is your purpose. Find it.

Stop living from the past and hoping for tomorrow. Create the NOW in your life. This is all there is.

Step with passion and intention in life. Ring the bell of life loudly. Step with all to see your footprints, let these echo long after you have passed in this body of yours.

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and difficult journey to visit him.

When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant inside who greeting him at the door.

“I would like to see the wise Holy Man,” he said to the servant.

The servant smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man.

Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turned to the servant,

“But I want to see the Holy Man!”

“You already have,” said the old man. “Everyone you may meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant… see each of them as a wise Holy Man. If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved.

What would life be like if we treated everyone we came across as a divine spirit?

We would hold them in reverence, give them patience and love. We would listen to their words. We would give to them completely. Imagine a world where all people held this context for each other.

In yoga the standard greeting and goodbye is with the term Namaste. The literal meaning of Namaste is “I bow to you.” However, the underlying context in this salutation is that I bow to the divine within you. The words represent that each of us are divine in our own right and by pressing your hands together at the heart and saying these words we recognize the God within another being.

We are all a piece of the divine, connected as one. We lose this connection in life with living beings. We create them as objects separate from ourselves. We put them in classes and create superficial expectations. We justify our way of being or treatment of these beings based on the role we have created for them. We completely lose the identity of these beings as our brothers and sisters, all connected to the source of the divine spirit. There is no separation.

We can transform our environment. We can transform this world. Visualize the context that all beings are divine. Be in wonder in this thought as you interact with living beings. Let go of all expectations and judgement and truly connect. Let go of everything and be. All that will be left is love.

As John Lennon wrote…..All we need is LOVE.

Namaste…I Bow to the Divine within You

Call to Action:

Visualize all living beings as the divine creatures that they are. Create this context in your mind and build actions in your life consistent with this way of being.

Do ever feel like you have brought your entire past into your relationships and life?

As human beings this is what we do. You could call this emotional survival where we put up walls to protect a perceived threat to our emotional well-being. Something happens to us and our perception of the event triggers an interpretation by our mind. This story now becomes the reality and we bring this forward into our present. subconsciously or consciously we build barriers to ensure this perceived event NEVER happens again. Our mind tells us to never feel this pain again.

Here is the reality. Something happened in our life and it is now over. Almost guaranteed the event was not the traumatic story that we created, but an event that we interpreted with our added meaning. We now live our lives off of these thoughts and feelings that are not real. We live our lives from an event that happened long ago. We carry this forward like a cloak, a mask and we do not reveal our true selves. We hide behind our walls and we wonder why the world seems so distant, why no one gets to know our true selves. It is as if we are walking around with our swords drawn ready to attack at any moment as the world is a dangerous place.

If you perceive the world as dangerous and people as hurtful then you will win this game. Things will show up in your life to prove to you that you are right and the world is out to get you. You will withdraw further and you will create an island behind the walls you have built. You will not create in your life as your mind will defeat everything and label it as impossible. The world will feel heavy and you will hide under all of the baggage you are carrying. You will miss the love and beauty that is in front of you at every moment. Your concern will be on self and these perceived thoughts, feelings and emotions. You will feel lost and defeated and live a life without hope. Life will pass and you will be disconnected from the source.

At our root, beyond these thoughts and feelings we are LOVE. We are all connected as one, brothers and sisters with all living things. In order for us to have this unity and connection we must first clear away all of our baggage. We must first REMOVE the walls that we have built. There is the story of the old Zen master who was visited by a university professor. The professor wanted to know everything the master had to teach as soon as possible. The Zen master brought out some freshly brewed tea and began to pour into an empty cup. Soon, the cup overflowed and the master kept pouring. Finally the professor said uneasily “it’s full, no more can get in.” In this the master was saying we must empty our cup in order to learn. In the context of bringing our past forward, we must empty our cup to come from nothing. It is from nothing that we create. From nothing we can create in any circumstance. Life becomes possible. Energy fills our veins. Our context then becomes who are we NOT todo or be anything in life. Our lives become filled with purpose and intention. From nothing we are connected and no longer have space for past stories and misery. We then can create our world.

The Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching tells us the same,

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable.

We work with being but non-being is what we use.

Get present in your life where you have built walls. Get present where you are bringing your past into life and into your relationships. Clear the past and bring nothingness into your life, this non-being is what we use in life. This is where we create, where we can truly be with others and where we are present in the NOW. This is where we come from a place of love. This is our connection.

Call to Action:

Reflect on your life and relationships. Where are you stopped? Where are you bringing your past into these situations? Get present to what you bring into these areas of your life.

Get clear on these matters. Clear the past. Talk to the people involved in these experiences. Get clear on the matter. Take down your walls. Remember until you empty your cup you cannot create.

Bring nothing, bring emptiness into your life and relationships. Actively bring nothing into your life and you will come from a place of presence and love. Anything you want will become possible.

A few days ago my girlfriend asked: “Why have the birds stopped singing?”

I smiled in this innocent statement. I knew she had so much on her plate trying to fit in school, work, trying to find a new career, her family, and me. Her head was swimming. I knew this statement was a reflection of her busy mind.

I simply stated “Because you are not listening.”

This happens to all of us in life. We get entangled in our action items, and our perception of life and the music stops. We create the weight of the world on our chest, we struggle to breathe, we climb into bed and we want to sleep. We wander through the day frustrated, unhappy with ourselves and our environment and we often keep to ourselves. We miss the beauty in front of us. We miss the love that is present. We stop listening.

In your life, where have you stopped listening? Where have the birds stopped singing?

When our mind takes over our eyes and ears become closed. We see and hear only through our state of being in life. If we are chaotic and our minds busy then we only hear noise. If we are angry and frustrated we hear horns, and get stuck in traffic and we argue with people. The day becomes overcast and we feel defeated. Our view, our context of the world is of despair, of defeat. Our thoughts drive our actions and our actions are consistent with this way of being. Thus, if we feel there is no hope, or that our lives are difficult then our view becomes consistent with this. The birds will stop singing.

Buddha stated “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” We win the game that we play in life. If we feel the world is out to get us or that someone is going to hurt us we will create this world. If we think that a loved one will leave us one day then we will create actions to win this game. What we think we become.

The challenge is that we become blind to our way of being. We create that this is just the way our world is and we cannot do anything about it. The first step is to get present to when your world feels off, when you feel as though you lack power. Once you distinguish this then look at your thoughts, your actions and your way of being. It is important to be true to yourself on this one. How are you REALLY BEING in this part of your life or relationship? Next, create a new context, a new way of being in this part of your life. Start with the end in mind. Distinguish this way of being and create this distinction within yourself. Then life and people will see you in this light. Your way of being will create actions consistent with these thoughts. Your context will have changed.

You will hear the birds sing again.

Call to Action:

Get present to where you lack power in your life. Where are you not listening in life? Make a list and really get present to your thoughts, actions and way of being in these areas of your life.

Once you are present, create a new context, a new way of being in these areas of your life. Create this distinction within yourself and become this way of being.

BE. We often fail to just be in life. Schedule time for yourself. Listen to the world. Listen to yourself. Recharge, be with nature and living creatures. BE LOVE.

He loved the earth and all things of the earth…He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew the lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to the lack of respect for humans too.

Luther Standing Bear- Oglala Sioux

Today was one of those rare cloudy but nice days in Seattle, not too hot, not too cold. I went with a friend and his two boys to the park next door, sat on the park bench and absorbed the atmosphere. In looking around at the vibrant growth in the trees, grass, and flowers, I thought of a Zen proverb that says “sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.” I smiled in this thought and our connection with nature. The power of a seed, the change of seasons, the persistence of growth in even the most difficult circumstances. Nature persists.

We are part of this cycle, part of a universal organism that exists on this planet and in this universe. In a hypothesis called the Gaia principle, scientists are telling us the earth itself is its own organism with its vast range of ecosystems all connected. I believe one day the same comment will be made about the entire universe. All systems connected as one. There is no “I” and the concept of “OUT THERE”. We are one. Underneath the covers, everything is made out of the same vibrating energy. All connected…all brothers and sisters in unity with the persistence of life, of growth, and the foundation of love.

This connection and universal love is evident in every thing and moment in life. Yesterday I read this great article of how a fisherman in South Africa saved a large Great White shark in his fishing nets (link to article: https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.377632012272668.75126.275115872524283&type=3). Since this time the shark seeks him out, follows him, rolls on her back so he can stroke her stomach. This perceived monster that we fear at its root is love. All of nature is this foundation of unconditional love. If you create the context that life is beautiful, and all living things are connected and of love then you will see this love appear in front of you as if a miracle. It will be as if you were blind your whole life. In Buddha’s words you will now be AWAKE.

The challenge is we remove ourselves from this context. We isolate ourselves from this connection. We isolate groups of human beings into disconnected non equal groups. We do this with animals and treat them like production items for our consumption. We do this with the environment. We do this with ourselves. We create the context that we do not fit, that we are different and we feel alone.

I am not a TV watcher, however, my favorite show of all time is the TV series called Kung Fu. Perhaps this is the root of my martial arts background. In one of the shows, the young Kwai Chang Caine tells is master that he is alone. The master asks him what he hears. He tells him, I hear the birds above, the water below, the wind rustling the grass, and the crickets in the brush. The master then asks him how he can be alone with all of this around him.

We are not isolated. This egotistical thought is the root of our destruction of this planet, of genocide and of our suffering. Luther Standing Bear points this out in his quote, “he knew when man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” When we isolate and remove ourselves from our connection to nature and living beings then our heart does become hard. We lose our connection. We can remove entire ecosystems without thought. We walk into the store and buy our packaged meat without any concept of the suffering and pain of another living being. We can treat other human beings with contempt because of an ideal in our mind that they are different.

Remove these barriers of isolation. Connect to all living beings. Be in nature. Be with animals. Be with human beings. Be connected with your brothers and sisters. They are all around you. You are not alone.

Call to Action:

Get out of your bubble. Put time in your calendar to be with living beings. Put time in your calendar to be in nature, breathe in the air and feel the growth around you.

Get present that you are connected to everything. Get present that your thoughts, words and actions create an impact with the ecosystem that you belong on this planet and in this universe.

I like to climb mountains. Something about the solitude and persistence in each step moves me. Rising above the clouds with the air stinging my lungs I feel connected to the wind, and to the clouds. The feeling of self disappears into a blend of the elements. My spirit soars connected to the majesty of the mountain and all that surrounds.

Mountains have always been a source of enlightenment and peace. From the reverence of Mt. Kailash, to the sacred Taoist and Buddhist mountains in China, mountains have provided inspiration, solitude and a foundation for one on a spiritual quest. As Sir Edmund Hillary stated, “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

When I read the Zen proverb, “If you want to climb a mountain, begin at the top.” I was stuck. I meditated on this thought and meaning, just as a good Zen thought or Koan should move someone. In reflection, this quote has me visualize the end as if manifesting the result. This manifestation creates a way of being, a distinction one lives into. Another Zen thought says “When the task is done beforehand, then it is easy.” Whether this is climbing a mountain, finishing your task list or giving love, starting from the end establishes this way of being for you to create actions to complete the task.

If I were to take on the task of climbing a mountain without the end in mind my task would not only be difficult, but I would feel defeated before I even begin. My mind would create thoughts of how difficult and how much suffering I would go through. It would dwell on how many steps in the route, and how cold it would be. It would create thoughts that focus on “maybe”, and “I am not sure if I can.” I would be in a space that was not the distinction of Mountain Climber. Without this distinction I would have no belief in my myself that I could actually complete this task. Without this belief my actions would be consistent with this way of being. I would fail before I even began.

Indifferent to this, if I created the distinction that I was a MOUNTAINCLIMBER, and I would reach the top….that I would actually BEGIN at the top then my actions would be consistent with this way of being. I would enjoy and be present on the climb indifferent to the feeling of suffering and pain and how I might not make it. The pain felt would be part of the journey versus reasons why I would not succeed.

We all have our personal mountains. Where in your life do you doubt who you are and your way of being? This happened to me when I started writing. I would not say I was a writer or author even after I had my book published. I was a business guy that did this as a hobby. I was not living the distinction nor taking responsibility for my stand on this planet. I started living this distinction of WRITER and a STAND for UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for all living beings. Since this time, my actions are consistent with this way of being. This is my mountain that I chose to begin at the top.

Choose your way of being. Believe you are this distinction in your life. Be this distinction and create actions consistent with this way of being. Take control of your life….BEGINAT THE TOP.

Call to Action:

Get present to your life and where you are not seeing the END in mind. Create a new way of being in these areas of your life. Create a distinction for yourself and live this distinction, be this person.

Create your way of being with the end in mind. You are a mountain climber, you are a loving wife, you are a leader. Be this, with the end in mind.

“To Be or Not to Be. That is the question.” Shakespeare tells us. This is the question. The question of our choice in life. The question that ultimately tells us that we alone have the ability to create our lives. This question simplifies all of our stories, our suffering, our pain into one question. What do you choose for your life?

All of us go through challenges at some point. Our mind creates the perception of UPs and DOWNs in life. It is as if the Universe tests our resolve, our commitment. It seems as if the Divine is asking us if we REALLY want our manifestations. Two steps forward, one step back. Knocked down nine times get up ten. This is life. It just is. It is exactly the way it is supposed to be, and we are in it and learning exactly how we should.

I was reminded of this last evening by someone I truly love. I felt lost. I felt as though I was losing something very important to me. I was clinging to the expectation of how something was in the past. Today is not yesterday. I was suffering as I was clinging to this ideal in my mind. I let this go and accepted my situation as exactly how it should be and I am learning exactly what I should be learning. In this I am blessed. I am blessed for my incredible friend. I am blessed for this lesson. I am blessed for this test in life. I can choose. To be or not to be. I could have chosen suffering filled with anger, gossip and destruction. I am choosing a different path filled with unconditional love and acceptance. I am choosing gratitude. I am so grateful in having the opportunity to go through this lesson. I am a better person for it. My bond with this friend is greater for it. My bond with my commitment in life is stronger because of it.

Every moment in every day is an opportunity to choose. Choose coming from your commitment in life. Your commitment is far bigger than your thoughts, feelings and emotions. The mind and these emotions have us play small in life. They have us look at life through an ego centric point of view. When you get connected to what you stand for on this planet then you no longer have time to play small or cater to these emotions. Life is too short for this trivial matter. Your game is far bigger than this.

Find what you want in life and LET IT BE. Find WHO you want to BE in life and let this BE. Be Happy. Be Peace. Be inspiration. Be power. BE LOVE.

Call to Action:

Get present to where you lack power in your life. Get present that this moment is a choice. Choose your way of being in every moment.

Find what you stand for in life. Write it down. Post it on the wall, put in your wallet. This is who you are to this planet. You are not your thoughts and emotions. Life is too short to play small. Be committed to your stand in life and transform this world.

Oh, Great Spirit Whose voice I hear in the winds, And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy – myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my Spirit may come to you without shame.

Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark-1887

“So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my Spirit may come to you without shame.” Wow….is there a better context for life than this? Full of gratitude, love and humbleness. The connection to all living beings is evident. The true appreciation in every moment is clear. Chief Yellow Lark understands his barrier to this harmony with the Great Spirit, this foundation of love is HIMSELF. “I seek strength not to be greater than my brother but to fight my greatest enemy – myself.”

This is it. Here lies the key to our path of peace, to our path of love – the strength to fight ourselves. To get our minds out-of-the-way and live from the heart. Our minds keep us in this material world filled with anger, vanity, greed, and lust. We are not free until we remove this ‘I’ in our context of the world. When we realize that we are connected to all living beings and that our world is impermanent we free ourselves from the suffering that our minds create as an isolated being.

Come with clean hands to your death. Death can happen at any moment, there is not some day, there is only now. All thoughts and actions are relevant. We are these thoughts and actions, and these create our world. If we are happy then our world becomes happy. Our way of being is a mirror to our lives.

Live in gratitude. Live in connection to all living beings. Live in love.

Call to Action:

Wake each day with a thought and words of gratitude for your life. Throughout the day search for gratitude, speak these words out loud to those around you. Create a world of gratitude.

See and feel the blessings that surround you.

Get present to the change you are looking for is within yourself. There is no where else to look. Find the strength to look within and transform your being. All other pursuits for transformation and change are fruitless.

To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance.

A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky,

Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.

The Buddha – As quoted by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

As the Buddha said, our lives are like Autumn clouds, passing by in an instant and constantly changing, impermanent until our deaths. Our suffering comes from clinging to this perceived permanence in our lives. A thought in the way things should be, or the way things are supposed to be. Change becomes a bad word to us. A word that equals loss and suffering. We put energy in trying to avoid or ignore change yet the inevitable flow of life happens and we suffer.

The greatest avoidance of change the western mind focuses on is the avoidance of death. We bar this conversation or thought. We hide from it until it is too late. And, just like the Autumn clouds who form in the west then morph and change throughout their life until finally succumbing to the elements, our lives end. As much as we hope for the miraculous cure or life extending drug, our lives will end. I can feel the shudder inside of you as you read this. We take this fear to our deathbed and we die constrained and without peace. This is the ultimate clinging to permanence.

Rinpoche tells us in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying:

What is born will die,

What has been gathered will be dispersed,

What has been accumulated will be exhausted,

What has been built up will collapse,

And what has been high will be brought low.

Freedom comes from letting go. This peace comes when you flow with life and stop clinging to your idea in how life should be. The Autumn winds will come and the clouds will billow, and then dissipate. Our lives are in but an instance. The only thing you have is this moment in front of you RIGHT NOW. This is it. The past does not exist and there is no future only this gift of the present.

Rinpoche suggests we ask ourselves two questions to evaluate if we truly understand impermanence:

Do I remember at every moment that I am dying, and everyone and everything else is, and so treat all beings at all times with compassion?

Has my understanding of death and impermanence become so keen and so urgent that I am devoting every second to the pursuit of enlightenment?

We are not fully free until we let go. We are not fully free until we embrace death as a natural part of our journey. Do not wait until your last breath to face this truth. Be mindful of this impermanence in yourself and all living beings. Live now and BE. Be happy…Be Love.

Call to Action:

Get present to the places in your life you are attached. Let go of expectations and be present to the NOW in your life.

Get mindful that all living beings on this planet are dying. Accept this as your journey. Accept that you can bring NOWNESS to this world, that you can bring compassion and love to all living beings.

My favorite poet, Hafiz. His words speak directly to the connection to the divine and being at one in the universe. This poem brings many thoughts to me and I smile with all of them.

To me Hafiz is talking about the dance of life. When we put aside all of the thoughts in our head and we dance with the universe, with the voice of God then our life is filled with music. We dance with the sun with the moon, with the wind. We dance with the fiercest creatures and give them love. “I hold the Lion’s Paw when I dance” is beautiful. Hafiz is standing in the face of fear and dancing with love and compassion. “If you think Hafiz is having more fun than anyone on this planet, then you are correct.” I smile in this. Hafiz is embracing life to the fullest nothing holds him back, he embraces the greatest fear with love, with a dance.

Wow….what would life be like if you took it fully on? If you laughed in the face of your greatest fears. If you lived fully, if you laughed, if you loved….if you danced in life. Life would be beautiful. It would not be a broken record of how hard life is, of how much suffering you go through. In every moment you would dance without reservation, as if no one was watching. Every moment you would be present and life would be full.

Nothing would stop you. You would hold the Lion’s paw and dance with life.

Call to Action:

Where are you holding back on life? Where are you timid and letting fear dictate your world? Get present to these moments, this is not you, let go completely as if no one is watching. Let go and dance.

Embrace the Lion’s paw….you know where your greatest fear lies, it aches in your side and speaks these words for you “I can’t.” Find this place, get present to it and embrace it. Dance with the Lion. Begin living today. Let in the world to the true you, not the you controlled by fear.